Obama Signs Landmark Wild & Scenic Rivers Bill

President Obama signed the largest conservation measure in 15 years today, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act, which designates two million acres of pristine federal lands as wilderness area, prevents oil and gas development on certain other vulnerable lands, and expands the nation's Wild and Scenic Rivers program to protect a thousand miles of rivers.

"This bipartisan bill has been many years in the making, and is one of the most important pieces of natural resource legislation in decades," Obama said at the signing.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called the act "one of the most significant protections for our treasured landscapes in a generation" and pointed out that Obama enacted it less than 100 days into his presidency.

The newly protected lands are in West Virginia, Virginia, Oregon, Idaho, California, New Mexico, Michigan, Utah and Colorado. Human activity in wilderness areas is restricted to non-motorized recreation. Logging, mining, and road construction are prohibited.

Prominent protected areas will include Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan; Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia; Oregon's Mount Hood; Idaho's Owyhee Canyons; the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado; Zion National Park in Utah; landscapes in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California; and wilderness-quality National Forest lands in Virginia and public lands in New Mexico.

It protects rivers in California, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Arizona, and Massachusetts as wild and scenic rivers, which "shall be preserved in free-flowing condition, and that they and their immediate environments shall be protected for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations," according to the 1968 law that created the designation. Other areas, such as the Mount Hood area of Oregon will benefit from both wilderness and river protection.

The sweeping act is composed of 160 smaller bills, most of which were passed by the House and Senate during the 110th Congress. The act also includes the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act, which provides for paralysis research; paralysis rehabilitation and care; improving quality of life for persons with paralysis and other physical disabilities.

Posted by Casey Kazan.

http://www.care2.com/news/member/223434622/1102149

Comments

[dmarx]

I didn't even read this whole article because, as noble as saving the environment is, we can't keep doing it while we have this need to expand the areas where we humans live. What I really wanna know is, when are we gonna start building the amazingly brilliant super cities I see in all the movies and videogames. Towering housing structures covered in solar panels and surrounded by miles of farmland dotted with new age windmills....or more solar panels. Man I love the Sun. it's so warm and bright. and it's not gonna go out anytime soon.

[EvilCosmicMonkeyfrom Knoxville]

dmarx:

We really need to think about building VERTICALLY. Dubai is but one place where they are building tall buildings to conserve land. Sola power all over the country ? There are some areas where that dog just ain't gonna hunt, as eco - friendly as it may be. Solar power in Washington State ? Not really feasible.
I wish someone would seriously research " Broadacre City ", a favourite concept of Frank Lloyd Wright. Eco - friendly cities, sans city centers.

[dmarx]

EvilCosmicMonkeyfrom Knoxville :

Building vertically was actually what I was trying to get at. But I fear the consequences of simply building on top of pre-existing cities. I don't like the idea of "underground slums". And I understand it's not feasible to cover every city in solar panels. Luckily, I don't think that's actually necessary. The sun provides so much energy that one city covered in solarpanels could probably provide power to dozens more. And though there are other sources of energy, I still think solar is the best. I still think that sattelites that gather solar energy and send it to earth via lasers would be an even more fantastic idea. But there's still politics to deal with, and drunk pilots. I'm sure someone would think the solar sattelite was armed with nuclear warheads, or a pilot might be a little tipsy and fly right through a bundle of beams, temporarily knocking out power in sanfrancisco for an hour.

Oh and, thank you EvilCosmicMonkeyfrom Knoxville for not simply typing expletives and calling me an idiot. I've seen far too much of that on this website and I'm glad for the reprieve. I'll go ahead and check out this "broadacre city".